Michael Shumer organizes water at the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean counties. Shumer was one of many volunteers from Hess Oil to help the food bank organize donations. / Jordan Culver/Staff photo

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Jordan Culver

@JordanCulver

Michael Shumer (left) organizes water while Joe Garrison (right) opens a new box of donations at the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Shumer and Garrison were volunteers from Hess Oil to help the food bank organize donations. / Jordan Culver

Barbara Scholz, director of advocacy programs at the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, said the bank has donated about 1,000 disaster boxes over the past two days. / Jordan Culver

The packed warehouse at the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. / Jordan Culver

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Shore-area food banks are bracing for a dip in monetary donations in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, despite a strong community — and out-of-state — response to requests for food.

Barbara Scholz, director of advocacy and programs at the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, said her organization is in “full crisis mode” following the storm.

Donors and volunteers are still coming in to make sure the warehouse is stocked with food, but there are concerns that there won’t be enough money to go around for the holiday season.

But the holidays remain a faraway blip on the radar, compared to delivering roughly 500 meals a day, every day, since the storm and subsequent nor’easter, Scholz said.

“We’ve just sent out our Thanksgiving direct-mail solicitations,” she said. “That’s our largest fundraiser of the year. Probably because many of the donors have other priorities, we’re seeing a huge drop already in donations. Usually around this time, we have about $100,000 more than we do right now.”

Plus, thanks to the storm, the food bank has far more expenses that it typically does at this time of year, she said. The bank is packed with food, which keeps warehouse workers and volunteers incredibly busy. Since Sandy, the food bank has given out more than 300,000 meals.

Trucks have been dispatched all over the state with “disaster boxes” from the food bank containing nonperishable foods and other needed supplies.

“We have more costs because we’re distributing almost double the amount of food we’re used to distributing at this time of year,” Scholz said. “We’ve received donations, but those are for disaster efforts — buying additional foods, paying for field costs because we’re driving everywhere.”

Tim Vogel, director of food sourcing for Community FoodBank of New Jersey in Hillside, said because the storm and Thanksgiving are so close together, it’s hard to get a handle on whether food donations will be negatively impacted. Regardless, he said, food is still coming into the bank.

“We do a food drive at a Giants game every year,” he said. “Typically, we would get maybe 4,000 or 5,000 pounds of food and a couple thousand dollars. This year, we got $18,000 and more than 30,000 pounds of food.”

Community members like Timothy Lucas, who works with Dr. Sketchy’s Asbury Park branch, said raising money for the local food bank was a no-brainer after Sandy. Dr. Sketchy’s offers opportunities for people with little or no art experience to come into bars and draw models.

On Sunday, Lucas organized a fundraiser at Roxy and Duke’s Roadhouse in Dunellen, where patrons could spend $10 to draw Shore-themed models.

The event raised $600, which went back to the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

“I’ve been here all my life,” Lucas said. “For a storm to come and just destroy portions of it, I mean, you just have to help.”